He was was a self-made, blue-collar millionaire in Reagan’s America. But when Percy Ross decided to give away his fortune, he made things simple: all you had to do was ask for it.
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Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
In 1971, the People Didn’t Just March on Washington — They Shut It Down
The most influential large-scale political action of the ’60s was actually in 1971, and you’ve never heard of it. It was called the Mayday action, and it provides invaluable lessons for today.
Posted inEditor's Pick
Bacteria on the Brain
A brilliant surgeon offered dying patients an experimental, untested treatment. Was his controversial approach life-saving innovation or an unethical overreach?
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
The Battery Breakthrough That Could Juice U.S. Manufacturing
In a new report, McKinsey describes a broad new age of manufacturing that it calls Industry 4.0. The consulting firm says the changes under way are affecting most businesses. They are probably not “another industrial revolution,” it says, but together, there is “strong potential to change the way factories work.” For decades, the US has watched […]
Posted inBooks, Business & Tech, Nonfiction, Story
A Sociology of the Smartphone
Smartphones have altered the texture of everyday life, digesting many longstanding spaces and rituals, and transforming others beyond recognition.
Posted inNonfiction, Quotes
Technology for Problem Sleepers
Having trouble sleeping? In The New Yorker, Patricia Marx writes about the economy of slumber, offering a lively survey of current gadgets and expensive equipment designed to get you a night of rest, and she nestles it snug as a bug with a primer on the growing science of sleep. From deprivation to natural cycles to oversleep, […]
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
In 1971, the People Didn’t Just March on Washington — They Shut It Down
The most influential large-scale political action of the ’60s was actually in 1971, and you’ve never heard of it. It was called the Mayday action, and it provides invaluable lessons for today.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction
Mass Extinction: The Early Years
A quick rundown of the ecocidal empires that came before us.
Posted inNonfiction
Hidebound: The Grisly Invention of Parchment
While most of the Old World was writing on papyrus, bamboo, and silk, Europe carved its own gruesome path through the history books.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story
Mass Extinction: The Early Years
A quick rundown of the ecocidal empires that came before us.
